Daniel appeared in the control room of the SGC. His appearance, despite the burst of white light that had accompanied it, had gone unnoticed. He had never knowingly experienced a time loop before. The first few times, he shielded himself with his arms instinctively as the 'gate exploded. Despite figuring out that it was being undone each time, it still unnerved him. Sheppard and Elizabeth were oblivious to him. Nonetheless, Daniel muttered as he left the control room,
"Not blowing things up while being in charge should be a clause in your contract."
All around him, events looped; he found quite a lot of his experience rather freaky. Personnel ran down corridors and within seconds, were running down the same corridors again, and again, and again. Having recently been in cosmic form, he surmised that the looping was a result of the universe effectively making the last indefinite circuits around the drain before being destroyed forever. A part of him thought of how Sam would have found the whole situation fascinating – how everything on Earth and even beyond was stuck in a loop despite time being relative.
Despite having lost Sam, he could still 'hear' her; he couldn't actually hear her, but after being with her for so long, he could accurately imagine her reactions and what she would say at different times. Right now, he imagined that she would advise him not to descend. While ascended, he was outside of time. He would run the risk of being trapped within the loop if he became completely human again. He rounded a corner before remembering that he didn't have to walk. However, he stopped in his tracks for a different reason.
The TARDIS. It was right in the middle of a corridor but looked strange. It seemed to have died in that the lights were off and he could only sense the tiniest murmur that it wasn't completely gone. His heart sank; part of a series of improvised plans had involved entering the Pandorica using the TARDIS' ability to travel almost anywhere in time and space.
Despite the loops, something was changing although what, he didn't know. He would have to check on his children another time; as though the day hadn't been long enough, something appeared to be afoot; something else.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
For the second time that day, or in a period of time that he had long since stopped trying to measure, Jack Carter had been transported somewhere with neither his consent nor any idea of how he had got there. It appeared to be dark around him but he couldn't be sure whether he was indoors or out. He stared around at the darkness. When he looked upwards – or what he perceived to be that direction – he saw fine lights streak the sky, the sight reminding him of the times he and Zoe would stay up together to watch meteor showers. He had rarely done the same with Tessa, his wife, who was an astrophysicist; it was one of those daddy-daughter things that he rarely got to do any more because Zoe was all grown up with a family of her own.
Looking characteristically stunned, he called out into the darkness, surprised slightly upon hearing an echo. Okay, he decided, it sounded as though he was indoors; in a space that Tessa would probably refer to as 'finite'.
'Jack.'
Jack spun around, looking a little spooked upon hearing his name. He said, trying not to sound scared, "Who said that?"
'Jack Carter.'
"Uh, yeah... and you are...?"
A bright mist descended in front of him but which did little – if anything – to illuminate their surroundings. The mist morphed into a human shape, becoming denser and more opaque but it still glowed. Finally, it took the form of a woman with long fair hair, and it took him a moment to realise who it was: General Jackson, the general looking very different out of her dress uniform. When he had got over his initial surprise, he realised that she appeared sad; he observed depths of sadness which he had never thought humanly possible.
She said, "I wish this could have been under different circumstances, Jack. I really do."
When his brain eventually managed to slip in gear, he said, albeit falteringly, "Is... is this the reason you came to Eureka?"
She shook her head, surprised initially at the question. She said softly, "I swear, Jack, I have only just found out. I've only been recently briefed about the place and Daniel and I wanted to see it for ourselves." She smiled self-depreciatingly and looked downwards, somehow feeling ashamed. "Figures that whenever we want to do something for fun, something like this comes to bite us in the ass."
"What's going on?"
"You know."
"I really don't."
Sam sighed aloud and looked upwards. She then looked at him once again, and said, "You're my brother."
He said a touch sarcastically, "Uh, yeah, I think I might have got that by now."
She shrugged albeit helplessly, and then said, "Well... did anyone tell you how stupid Eternal tech is? It's barely able to process your presence." She reached for his hands and said, "Jack, I really need you to believe now. If we can synchronise our brain waves, we might just get out of here."
"How the hell are we going to do that?"
Sam touched his cheek and whispered as she grew closer to him, "You're just going to have to trust me." Her hand reached his left temple and she gently stroked it as he looked at her as though she was out of her mind – as though was out of his mind. She whispered as she closed her eyes,
"This might feel a little strange at first... partly because I only ever really got to practise this on Daniel."
He shied from her touch, exclaiming furiously, "What is wrong with you people?"
Sam tried to be patient as she sensed confusion and fear from him. Sometimes, she forgot to take into account that the things that she was used to were actually not normal. She had worked with the Stargate for far too long, she wistfully thought as it hit her just how weird everything would be to someone as uninitiated as her brother; well, either of her brothers.
Sam spoke, her eyes glistening with tears shed and unshed, hers and not hers. She said softly, pleadingly, "Jack, please. You're the only one who can help me. I'm really sorry about everything, but..."
Jack looked at her, his anger offset by his ever present confusion. He said, "Why are you sorry? It's not like you made this happen." He looked at her, as though seeing her for the first time. He said with forced calmness, "I guess I'm going to have to get used to this. I have a sister – another sister – who's... who's..." He paused, his eyes giving away just how out of his depth he was. "... what the hell are you anyway? Are you even human?"
She smiled, bemused. "Yes, I'm human."
She closed her eyes for a moment and sighed, her head bowed. When she raised her head and opened her eyes, she looked as though she had waited for an aeon and was calmly accepting the prospect of waiting for another aeon. He stared at her with a confused sense of fascination as for one brief moment, she seemed older than everything he had ever known.
She said, "Jack, there is a lot to talk about... and I'm not sure I'm as qualified as Daniel, or even Dad, to tell you everything that you need to know."
Jack Carter stared at the woman before him as the metaphorical cogs continued to turn and grind. He said softly, "You're my sister."
She looked back at him, not saying anything as he continued to think aloud.
He continued, "That man out there is my father." He took a deep breath, thinking of all the weird things he had done since moving to Eureka, and how the present situation was all a little too close to home. "You're clearly something else... and Dad out there too, and Doctor Jackson; what about General O'Neill and...?"
She said, "It's just me and Daniel that are like this." She exhaled. "Dad is a long story."
"This is just crazy."
"You're telling me." She sighed aloud. "Jack, I don't have a lot of time. We have a lot to talk about but we can do that later." She reached for his hand, and this time he complied, placing his hand in hers, albeit hesitantly. When at last they were holding hands, she closed her eyes as he looked around at what seemed to be their surroundings exploding brilliantly yet silently.
He looked back at his sister and gulped. He eventually closed his eyes as the explosions swirled around the two of them.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
The Doctor stood upon a pile of rubble while SG-1 and Jo, rather more sagely in their respective opinions, hid in doorways of the chamber or behind pillars or large items of furniture. The Pandorica spun with increasing force, generating a strong wind which whipped around the Doctor, tousling his hair in various directions. He shielded his eyes and he occasionally ducked as the wind picked up debris of varying sizes. He watched as the light from the etchings and carvings on the Pandorica changed through a myriad of colours from the dim electronic green that it had previously been.
He shouted over the wind, "This is amazing! The paradox should create enough energy to open up the Pandorica and restore the universe to its former glory."
As if on some fatal cue, the Pandorica began to slow down, leaving the Doctor aghast, and the others just as confused as they had been for a long time. The Doctor yelled in protest.
"No! No! You can't do that!" As the wind slowed, he held his Sonic Screwdriver aloft as he squinted at it. He said, albeit in despair, "It's not enough. The one thing that should have been able to open that damn box is not enough."
The wind abruptly stopped, all becoming still. Just as all did so, the Doctor exclaimed in surprise in the silence that followed, "Oh!"
SG-1 and Jo eventually emerged from their hiding places, and everyone's eyes fell upon the Pandorica, now silent, still, and, worryingly, dark. Jack O'Neill was the first, bar the Doctor, to break the tense and dusty silence.
The old General wearily exclaimed, "Oh, what now?" He jabbed a finger accusingly at the Doctor. "You said that getting Sheriff Monkey-face near that thing would end all this." He sighed reluctantly. "I want Carter back." When he caught an odd look from Jo, he continued, "My Carter."
The Doctor calmly retorted, "I said no such thing... initially." He leapt off the pile of the rubble he had been stood upon. He approached the Pandorica, and looked up at it. He said, "The end is nigh... unless we can get a huge power boost."
As though on cue, with a much nicer happenstance than previously, a ring of golden and white light circulated the Pandorica, a ring much thinner than the one that had previously blazed. O'Neill fearlessly wandered over to the light, the retired General quietly fascinated by the sight of the ring that rippled and flowed almost like water.
Jo asked, horrified, "What... what is that?"
Cam asked, confused yet again, "Jackson?"
The Doctor held his extended Sonic Screwdriver aloft once again, the light on the end pulsating rapidly. He peered up at his trusty tool, and said, "Um... no. The energy pattern's all wrong." He looked around at SG-1, who were now gathered together near the Pandorica. "At a guess, this is the Ascended forms of our saviours earlier; your older Ascended selves." He shook his head. "They're not having any effect on the Pandorica's readings."
Everyone was rooted to the spot as a loud sound ripped through the chamber, rather similar to a dramatic peal of thunder. There was a blaze of light above the Pandorica, much brighter than the ring. It blazed brighter and brighter, white flames licking the surfaces of the cube from the top down.
Jonas said in an awed whisper, "I... I think that might be Daniel now."
All shielded their eyes as the light got too bright for them as it obscured their vision completely. There was a whining sound which increased in pitch and frequency, and which seemed to last for an eternity as everyone shut their eyes tightly and covered their ears, hoping that it would all end soon.